Research on Algorithmic Governance and Content Management of Digital Platforms in the Republic of Korea under the Platformization Background

In recent years, digital platforms in the Republic of Korea have gained growing influence in news dissemination, video recommendation, and content operation. Represented by NAVER, Kakao, YouTube, Netflix, TVING, and other platforms, algorithms have been deeply embedded in information distribution and user management, and have gradually become a core component of platform governance. Combined with the practical development of digital platforms in the Republic of Korea, this paper analyzes the realistic background and main operation modes of algorithmic governance, as well as its specific manifestations in content management. The study finds that while algorithmic mechanisms improve content matching efficiency and user engagement, they also trigger problems such as unbalanced information distribution, expanded platform power, and difficulties in liability identification. In the future, platform governance needs to strike a more reasonable balance among technological innovation, market competition, and public interests.

References

Beer D, 2017, The Social Power of Algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1): 1–13.

Gilles T, 2015, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media. Yale University Press, New Haven.

Helmond A, 2015, The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready. Social Media + Society, 1(2): 1–11.

Jin DY, 2016, New Korean Wave: Transnational Cultural Power in the Age of Social Media. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.

Kitchin R, 2017, Thinking Critically about and Researching Algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1): 14–29.

McQuail D, 2011, McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory. Sage Publications, London.

Napoli PM, 2011, Audience Evolution: New Technologies and the Transformation of Media Audiences. Columbia University Press, New York.

Picard RG, 2002, The Economics and Financing of Media Companies. Fordham University Press, New York.

Poell T, Nieborg D, Duffy BE, 2022, Platforms and Cultural Production. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Srnicek N, 2017, Platform Capitalism. Polity Press, Cambridge.

Van Dijck J, Poell T, de Waal M, 2018, The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Kwak KT, Kim J, Lee S, 2021, The Case of the Republic of Korea’s News Aggregators, Naver News and Kakao News. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2021(171): 120940.

Personal Information Protection Commission, 2023, Personal Information Protection Act and Enforcement Decisions. Republic of Korea, Seoul.

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, 2022, Digital News Report 2022: Republic of Korea Country Profile. University of Oxford, Oxford.

Peng L, 2021, Communication Transformation and Governance Issues in a Platform Society. News and Writing, 2021(4): 5–13.

Yu GM, 2020, Logical Evolution and Governance Innovation of the Algorithmic Society. Social Science Front, 2020(8): 172–179.

Hu Y, Liu Y, 2019, Algorithmic Recommendation, Information Filter Bubbles and Reconstruction of Publicness. Modern Communication, 2019(12): 15–22.

Zhang ZA, Li SX, 2021, Restructuring News Communication Order in the Platform Era. Journalism Quarterly, 2021(5): 28–37.

Peng L, 2020, Intelligent Communication: Technical Logic and Governance Challenges. International Journal of Journalism & Communication, 42(1): 6–18.

Yu GM, 2021, Future Media: Algorithmic Society and Communication Transformation. People’s Daily Press, Beijing.

Previous article in this issue

Next article in this issue